Shivraj, Raman, Vasundhara appointed BJP vice presidents

Former Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje and Raman Singh were on Thursday appointed BJP’s national vice presidents, a day ahead of the party’s National Council meet here in Delhi.

“BJP President Amit Shah has appointed Chouhan, Raje and Singh as the party’s national vice presidents with immediate effect,” an official statement issued by the party said.

In the recent Assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was routed in Chhattisgarh where the Raman Singh-led party had been in power for 15 years, making him the longest-serving Chief Minister of the saffron party.

The BJP was defeated in Madhya Pradesh under Chouhan and Rajasthan under Raje in closely fought contetsts.

Like Chhattisgarh, the BJP was also in power in Madhya Pradesh for the last 15 years. The 59-year-old Chouhan first became the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in November 2005 after the party forced then Chief Minister Babulal Gaur to resign from his post. Gaur had replaced former Chief Minister Uma Bharti, under whose leadership the BJP had dethroned then Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh in 2003.

The results in the Hindi heartland states came as a major shock to the BJP, which had won all the major states barring Delhi, Bihar, Punjab and Karnataka in elections held since the sweeping victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.